oddball headlight problem

[snuffy smiff]

Some background info:I went with the diode method of all 4 headlamps with fogs on high last spring and was happy as could be with it. Living in the boonies like I do I need to see deer and other loose livestock in the road as soon as possible(yes, it does happen 'round here and a big cow can do lots more damage than deer). I am also running the euro BMW bulbs(stock wattage but twice the lumens) to increase nighttime ability. Recently ran across some 9155 fog lamp bulbs (stock wattage is 42-45 depending on who you talk to) So, being the light whore that I am, I grabbed 'em. I had been thinking of upgrading the fogs but having heard of wiring issues I was reluctant to run the headlght bulbs in the foglamps like some have.

 

Now, three weeks later I got a problem. When first starting cold, and at night with highbeams on, the headlights will not switch to lowbeams using the column switch for the first few minutes of use. I have to manually turn off all lights with the dash switch then turn them back on to get the highbeams off. If I then swith the highbeams back on they again will stay on until manually switched off again. After a few cycles and/or few minutes things return to normal and the headlights switch back and forth from high to low with the column switch. At first it was happening for only a few seconds but timewise they are staying stuck longer and longer. Could this be the stock relay sticking or is the higher wattage foglamp bulbs causing this? That's the only recent mod that's been done. Could 10 watts be causing this? I would think that if one of the diodes is breaking down it would continue to keep the highbeams stuck on but after a few minutes it stops.

 

I plan to switch the foglamps back to the stock bulbs and see what happens. Any other ideas?

[dhansell22]

Hopefully it's nothing like happened to mine.

 

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?...p;hl=dhansell22

[ken1mod]

Gentlemen,

 

Just an opinion here but I find that running low and high beams together puts too much brightness right in front of the truck lousing up my distant night vision much like having the dash lights up too high. There are times when the extra light is nice but a good set of properly adjusted factory high beams, maybe with brighter bulbs, works best for me. Aiming is really important.

 

Ken

[dhansell22]

Well I'm not messing with it anymore. I don't even need my high's. Yep, I'm that *hole who lifts his truck and doesn't adjust the headlights back down!! I get flipped the bird at least once a night. I should probably take care of that before I get stuck behind a cop or somebody takes a shot at me or something.

[Rolandd]

Diodes are not perfect at stopping electricity from flowing the "wrong" way. The heavier duty the diode, the more it will leak back. While I do not fully understand why changing the fog lamps would affect your system in this way, you may want to try a lighter duty diode or reduce the wattage draw on some of your lights.